Lawbreakers #8

When a man named Bill Hecht commits a terrible crime in a jealous rage, he thinks he's covered his tracks—but he overlooked a single, damning piece of evidence. The next day, detectives match hair clippings found under the victim's fingernails to Hecht himself, proving that even the smallest detail can expose a criminal's guilt. In this 1952 mystery from *Lawbreakers*, a killer's attempt to destroy the evidence ultimately becomes his downfall.

When organized crime moves into the city with its numbers rackets and confidence games, Detective Larry Rhemy of the Rackets Squad is murdered—a violation of the syndicate's own rules that draws the attention of Sergeant Force. As Force investigates the killing alongside his partner Kennedy, following a trail of garage receipts and a mysterious borrowed Buick, he uncovers corruption reaching into the police department itself. With the clock ticking and danger closing in, Force must navigate a web of criminal conspirators and crooked cops to bring Rhemy's killers to justice.

Three convicts—Jim Rabe, John Carlin, and Lou Garal—meticulously plan their prison escape, fashioning a fake gun and orchestrating a series of moves to overpower guards and reach the warden's office with their hostage in tow. But Warden Lang is several steps ahead, and when the breakout reaches its critical moment, he springs "Operation W"—a devastating countermeasure that turns the tables on the desperate men. The convicts learn an unforgettable lesson about the futility of their scheme and the warden's unwavering control.

A masked gunman in a brown suit is systematically robbing Big Joe Galinski's floating dice games—and leaving dead bodies in his wake. When the killer strikes too close to home, Big Joe must decide whether revenge or justice matters more, and whether working with the police can stop a criminal who seems to know his every move. It's a hard lesson in crime's real cost, from the pages of *Lawbreakers*.

When a desperately broke chemical plant owner named John Brough picks up a drifter named Frank Wilton and offers him work, he and his wife Rita see an opportunity—a scheme involving life insurance, arson, and a substituted body that seems foolproof on paper. But Fire Marshall Jim Lipton and Insurance Adjustor Ralph Gorman aren't content to let the crime slide, and a single dental detail becomes the thread that unravels the whole plan.